1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a class of triazoles which are substituted in the 3 and 5 positions and bear optional substituents in the 1 position. The substituent in the 1 position is an alkyl, alkanoyl, carbamoyl or benzyl group. The substituents in the 3 and 5 positions are aryl or heteroaryl groups, or a group derived therefrom.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The herein-described substituted triazoles have utility as anti-gout and anti-hyperuricemic agents.
Gout is a condition affecting humans and lower animals, particularly birds and reptiles, which is characterized by perversion of the purine metabolism resulting in an excess of uric acid in the blood, by attacks of acute arthritis, and by formation of chalky deposits in the cartilages of the joints. These deposits are made up chiefly of urates, or uric acid. Hyperuricemia is a condition characterized by an excess of uric acid in the blood.
Uric acid serves no biochemical function in the body and is merely an end product of purine metabolism. It is well known in the art that the purine bases adenine and quanine, which play key roles in a wide variety of chemical processes, both give rise to uric acid in the body. Adenylic acid and guanylic acid are converted to the free purine bases by destructive metabolic enzymes. A portion of the free purine bases is converted to purine ribonucleotides and the remainder is degraded to the free bases xanthine and hypoxanthine. A single enzyme, xanthine oxidase, converts both xanthine and hypoxanthine to uric acid for excretion.
Although human purine biosynthesis can be inhibited at the stage of formyl glycinimide ribotide by the glutamine antagenists azaserine and 6-diazo-5-oxo-1-norleucine, a high incidence of undesirable side effects precludes their being used clinically for this purpose. In recent years, substantial progress has been made in attempting to control the excessive levels of uric acid in patients afflicted with gout through the use of pharmaceutical agents. Uric acid synthesis has been effectively blocked by the use of allopurinol, 4-hydroxypyrazolo-[3,4-d]-pyrimidine, a compound which is a structural isomer of hypoxanthine. Allopurinol acts as a specific inhibitor of the enzyme xanthine oxidase, which is responsible for the conversion of both hypoxanthine and xanthine to uric acid. As a direct result of the administration of this compound to patients afflicted with gout, part of the uric acid which would normally end up in the urine is replaced instead by the oxypurines, hypoxanthine and xanthine, thus greatly reducing the content of uric acid in serum and urine. Azathioprine has also been employed in patients afflicted by gout to inhibit the excessive purine synthesis, which tends to produce abnormal amounts of uric acid. Other compounds, such as acetylsalicyclic acid, thiophenylpyrazolidine, and phenylbutazine have been employed in the treatment of gout. Many of the existing compounds used in the treatment of gout, however, relieve the inflammation and other symptoms connected therewith but have no effect on the conditions which give rise to gouty arthritis or hyperuricemia. Thus, there is still a need for compounds which can be employed in the prophylactic treatment of gout as well as for the treatment of other abnormal conditions associated with hyperuricemia.
The substituted triazoles which are the subject of this invention have been found to be effective anti-gout and anti-hyperuricemic agents in that they will inhibit the action of the enzyme xanthino oxidase and thus reduce the content of uric acid in serum and urine. In addition to their use as anti-gout and anti-hyperuricemic agents, certain of the triazoles exhibit cluretic and hypotensive activity.